The Winterlight
The Winterlight is Illur's first ever lighter-than-airship. Constructed in Reliad through a joint-funding effort by all nine guilds, the airship project was also heavily invested in by the occupying Drow force, who planned to use the vessel as a weapon of war. The development of the project was a direct result of the increased need for new sources of technology within the city because of the dismantling of The Cloaks' guild, for up until that point they had supplied Reliad with a bounty of magical power-power it now had to seek elsewhere. The airship was finally completed during the height of the Drow occupation of the city, and commenced its maiden voyage soon after. The Maiden Voyage Each of the eight functioning Relish guilds were invited to send representatives to take part in the Winterlight's historic first flight. The attendees from each guild were as follows: *From House Dragonheart : Lord Edward and Lady Helena Astor *From Sanctuary : Groggy the Lucky Dwarf *From The Sinstrikers : Father Marco Flores *From The Assayers : Seriku and Malachi Val'Ketta *From The Masks : Doctor Thaddeus Webb *From The Bilgerats : Big Mop *From The 4 Families : Reginald Van Locke *From The Sisterhood : Coco *And representing the interests of the Drow: Ambassador Lothos Somewhat notable was the fact that no guild leader chose to take part in the flight themselves. The ship was captained by the engineer who oversaw most of its construction, Skycaptain Fritz "Beets" Potsprocket, and was crewed by Ensigns Lagwagon and Wheeler. The flight records indicated that the ship was intended to make a leisurely loop towards the nearby Ivory Island, touch down briefly for fuel resupply, and then continue back to port, a voyage taking only one short week. Little is known of the specific events that took place over the northern waters of the Sea of the Setting Sun that day, but flight records kept by the crew and the representatives from the Assayers Guild indicate that the following events took place throughout the voyage: *Day 1: Sky Pirate attack, Captain Montague's band, riding zombified House Dragonheart drakes. Lord Astor badly burned in the attack, ship underpinnings' structural integrity weakened. Montague slain, buried at sea. *Day 2: Drow ambassador taken ill, did not leave cabin for remainder of voyage. *Day 3: Stowaway goblin found in ship's food supply, had consumed ship's entire protein supply. Goblin dealt with severely, ship forced to pick up additional food supplies upon docking. *Day 4: Ship landed successfully aboard Ivory Island, small issue with herd of sheep blocking takeoff area. *Day 5: Ship passes through bad electrical storm, though no casualties reported. Ship suffers severe damage to critical parts, patched by onboard alchemist and necromancer. *Day 6: Bomb found aboard ship. Thrown overboard, suspected to be property of the now-missing representative of the Bilgerats. *Day 7: Winterlight attempts to dock inside of Reliad once more, but magical trap laid by disgruntled former Cloaks members threaten to bring down the ship. Some creative piloting manages to steer ship through the streets of the city, while sustaining only minimal damage to city property and the ship itself. Drow ambassador and Sanctuary representative did not survive impact, however. Overall, the voyage was a resounding success, and would pave the way for Reliad's newly formed Street of Cunning Artificers to become the world leader in airship technology to this day. Trivia *The remains of the Winterlight that survived the crash are still on display today in the offices of the Windlight Airship Company, built on the spot where the Winterlight first touched ground within the city. Category:Artifacts